Major-General Humphrey Edgar Nicholson Bredin, (28 March 1916 – 2 March 2005), known as Bala Bredin, was a British Army officer whose military service took him from 1930s Palestine via Dunkirk, North Africa and Italy to the Cold War in Germany. Early life Bredin was born at Peshawar on the North West Frontier of British India on 28 March 1916. Bredin was the second son of Lieutenant-Colonel A. Bredin, of the Indian Army. He was educated at King's School, Canterbury, and at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. It was at Sandhurst that Bredin acquired the nickname Bala. This was the name of a fort in Peshawar as well as a racehorse owned by the Aga Khan. After graduating from Sandhurst, Bredin was commissioned into the Royal Ulster Rifles in 1936. He deployed with the regiment to Palestine where he was quartered in a village called Bala. Military career Palestine During the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine Bredin was a subaltern with the 2nd Royal Ulster Rifles in Upper Galilee. The Army was charged with protecting Jewish settlements and tracking down Arab insurgents. Bredin took part in counter-insurgency with Major Orde Wingate's Special Night Squads. He was awarded the Military Cross in a clash at a notorious ambush point on the Tulkarm-Nablus road, in April 1938, and a Bar to the award a month later in a similar action. The citation recorded that, "he had already proved adept at this work which is both arduous and dangerous". He was also mentioned in dispatches for his services in Palestine. Second World War Bredin participated in the Battle of France in 1940, serving with the Royal Ulster Rifles. They marched from Louvain to Dunkirk, repulsing German attacks en route, before boarding an Isle of Man steamer. While on board Bredin came across a steward and asked for a beer, to which the steward replied, "Yes, sir, but I can't serve you till we are three miles out". Bredin received his beer as they were about to land in Kent and he thought to himself, "...we can't lose the war with people like that about". In 1944, Bredin was commanding the 6th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in Italy. He was tasked with breaching the Gustav Line, the German defensive position, leading the 78th Division in the engagement. A subsequent bravery citation relating to his actions of 15 May 1944 read - Two days later